Understanding the Power of an Outsider Mentor

Mentorship in the fashion industry is broken.

The Outside View: The Great Depression of Chinese Youth

If you didn’t start with the unpaid internship or an entry-level role and pay in sweat equity, many people will keep you at arm’s length. The unwritten law is that if you are willing to (and can) submit to those conditions, in exchange, you get compensated in other ways — clothing, lunches, and entrée into the club.

As a result of these expectations, the opportunity to come up in the ranks on the corporate side of fashion in the U.S. has excluded many for decades — if not completely, then certainly for promotions, raises and executive roles. Moreover, because of intense competition for a handful of roles, whether you will truly find support can be another thing entirely. Sadly, in an industry dominated by women, it’s historically been incredibly tough to transition into what I would call balanced motherhood if that’s your chosen path.

For my formative years, I deified fashion and designers, runway shows, and the flash of the industry. It held a powerful pull for me but it also scared and intimidated me. Although I worked in vintage shops in college, my early career was in tech and start-ups.

My view of the fashion industry has mostly been as an outsider, so when I decided to pivot from IT consulting into impact work, I knew it was probably my best chance to enter into fashion. I had friends in the trenches (their words) who worked at brands, started brands, or worked as buyers, merchandisers, and creative directors. While I heard some unbelievable stories about tough work environments, I jumped at the opportunity to go back to school at the Fashion Institute of Technology. Yes, that was because sustainability MBA programs were a heavy lift and I was starting a family, but it was also because working in fashion had been a dream since childhood.

Soon after starting courses at FIT, I learned about, and was offered, the U.S. reins of a small U.K. nonprofit called Fashion Revolution. Leading with my sales skills, I began immediately meeting with executives and walking into a lot of rooms that I had always wanted to enter. But it wasn’t always the most welcoming experience, and I knew that I needed to find a mentor to help me find my footing in the midst of seasoned professionals.

I was brand-spanking new in the insular fashion world.

Luckily for me, within a couple of months of taking the helm, I met Hunter Lovins. She is an incredible environmentalist, activist, economist and educator who speaks all over the world and taught at the Bard MBA program. A founder of Rocky Mountain Institute, she had a hand in getting solar panels on the White House roof under President Jimmy Carter’s administration. She’s a renegade and a complete original. She’s a boss.

I reached out to her to ask her for a quick chat over coffee, and she said “yes.” When we met a couple weeks later, I knew instantly that I wanted to learn from her as a mentor. For me, the connection was instant. She cuts through to the truth, explains things simply, and is allergic to pretense. Notably, her wardrobe is simple, and her main requirement of clothing is function.

The Outside View: Status in Flux, the Power of Distance

When we first began speaking, she admittedly wasn’t interested in the industry of fashion. Her identity was not connected to the clothes she wore. Or was it? As we continued to talk, and I shared statistics from Greenpeace, World Resources Institute, and others — she started to nod and look more solemn. Fashion’s impact on the environment is enormous; it’s just concealed behind opaque supply chains and often ignored by scientists who admittedly dismiss the industry as superficial.

As time went on, every time Hunter and I spoke, the world became a little clearer for both of us. I became bolder and more confident, and she got more and more interested in the impact of fashion. Similar values are vital to successful friendships, but I am a big believer that adding yin/yang dynamics is helpful for mentor/mentee relationships. It can bring out a new part of our character and help our perspective shift. It’s like a chiropractic adjustment for the mind giving us a more open outlook.

Together, we have discussed regenerative agriculture and the farm-to-fabric movement that has gained traction with brands like Eileen Fisher and Gabriela Hearst. I addressed my questionable shopping habits by going a year without shopping and it permanently rewired my brain. Believe me, it works! We also have recently been talking more and more about the elephant in the room, overproduction. How do we slow down the juggernauts of Shein, Temu — and really, who needs this much stuff? Why can’t established companies like Zara and H&M do more to reimagine the fast fashion system they built not so many years ago?

What I have learned in the years since starting this work in sustainability is that behind the glamorous events and the pursuit of the next big fashion statement, there is an incredible opportunity to raise awareness about climate change, advocate for sustainable living choices, and fight against the harmful effects of too much clothing on the planet. We can make it cool to change an industry fueled by consumerism, waste and exploitation of natural resources from the inside. We can make a more inclusive and safe space instead of making money off of peoples’ insecurities and desire to be on-trend.

I have learned that, in part, by having a mentor who was able to push me to think in different ways. And who valued my thoughts and outside perspective.

We all have pivotal moments in our professional lives. We make choices that change our course and the faster we embrace and adapt, the more of those opportunities present themselves. I, for one, am happy to have found this kind of strong mentor-mentee relationship and will do my best to pay it forward for the good of the industry and the environment.

Are you connecting with the kind of mentors who will challenge your assumptions and expand your horizons?

Lauren Fay specializes in identifying and securing strategic partnerships that enhance sustainability efforts and foster innovation in circular fashion.  At her consulting firm, BFG Lab, her focus is on driving sustainability through circular strategies, leveraging her expertise in reverse logistics and process improvement.

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